Retro Video Game Finds X or THE RISE OF THE ODYSSEY 300 or I’m Using a Vic-20 Computer at Work

by Salvatore Pane

I’ve found a lot of great retro scores recently. The one I’m most excited about is that beautiful yellow Odyssey 300. I already have the vastly superior Odyssey 3000–if you want a dedicated Pong machine, get that–but that 300 has its charms, namely the pop future design. I snagged this at a swap meet in the Indianapolis Fairgrounds for ten bucks along with the two Sega Saturn games and a not-pictured Crazy Taxi on Dreamcast for another seven. The Odyssey was a bit difficult to hook up to a CRTV, but with a few adapters and C batteries, I had the thing up and running eventually.

The Dreamcast is a system I fondly recall from college. There were so many nights when we’d stumble back from the bar and play Sega Bass Fishing or Power Stone II or even Seaman for hours. So after years of wanting one, I finally broke down and picked one up for twenty-five. I also bought Sonic Adventure and Virtua Tennis for five combined.

The last picture is from my office. Before the Odyssey 300, I had twelve retro systems hooked up to my television. I thought thirteen would be one too many, so I carted the behemoth that is the Vic-20 to my office. I haven’t been able to program a word processor yet, but I’m hoping to build one soon. At the very least, I’m enjoying the stunned looks of confusion from students and co-workers alike.